


Chicken Soup

by CaptainLeBubbles



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 03, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-typical swearing, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Minor Original Character(s), Mother-Son Relationship, Sibling Love, happily adopted, redemption fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-20 19:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11927889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainLeBubbles/pseuds/CaptainLeBubbles
Summary: Cameron Campbell has always operated at the gravitational center of his very own reality. Nothing and no one has ever been as important to him as him, and most people don't even figure into the equation at all.A laughably short trial and a nine-month stint in prison have left Campbell a lot of time to analyze his life and see where he went wrong. Now that he's out, he's got a choice to make: carry on with his selfish, greedy schemes, or try to be a better person than he's ever been.At least he's got David there to guide him... and Max is there too, to throw pinecones at him whenever he messes up.





	1. Max’s Private Journal (NO ONE look, especially you DAVID)

**Author's Note:**

> I've said since last summer that I didn't want a redemption for Campbell but apparently that goes out the window when he's mean to David. Contains spoilers for both season finales.
> 
> But if you're worried, let me reassure you: he's gonna have to work for it.
> 
> (Addendum: there's a b-side plot about Max also learning to be better, in a very different context than Campbell.)
> 
> With thanks to Hayley for inspiring the title.

May X, 2oXX

So much has happened in the ten months since the last time I picked this thing up so I’m going to try to get it all summed up quickly.

* * *

 

We all kept in touch after camp was over. Neil set us up a group chat. Turns out while I was being miserable everyone else was having a pretty okay summer and making friends with each other. Who knew?

Neil and Nikki’s parents started seeing each other after they met at Parents’ Day. Nikki was all for it from the beginning but Neil was against it. But then it turns out he wasn’t being a prick, he was just worried about his dad getting hurt. I don’t blame him, Candy is a lot, and Carl’s such a pushover. But they seem pretty happy. And Neil says being step-siblings with Nikki isn’t so bad, except she wakes him up every morning by divebombing his bed. So that’s going about as well as expected.

Nerris’s mom tried to get into larping and roleplay like Nerris and her dad, but it just wasn’t clicking. So she and Nerris decided to find something they could both be into instead. They did some classes together and discovered they both really enjoy spinning wool, so now that’s a thing. Nerris says it’s going to really improve her cosplay skills if she can make her own cloth for her costumes.

Her parents also let her start puberty blockers until she could figure out what her gender is doing. When she told us Ered said “lucky bitch” and “-groans for three hours-”. No idea what that was about. But now Nikki is trying to get her mom to let her start them too. Candy isn’t too hyped about the idea, but Neil and Carl are helping talk her around. Nikki’s got a few years before she needs them, but she’s hoping to get in early, before her voice starts changing.

Nurf’s uncle lost custody of him not long after the Parents’ Day fiasco. It sucks for Nurf, but after he told us everything I’m glad that guy got what was coming to him. Nurf was going to get shuffled off into the system after that, but when he told the rest of us about it Ered did something  _really_  cool. She went to her dads and talked to them, and they applied for custody. So now Nurf lives with the Millers. It’s really working out for him, too. He’s got a therapist he says is really helping him deal with his aggression, and the Millers take him to see his mom a lot and he says she’s making a lot of progress too. He says by the time she’s out she’ll be a reformed and productive member of society. Here’s hoping.

Meanwhile Ered is starting to get into aviation, which she says is “super cool”. Agents Miller took her to fly a simulator apparently and now she’s always talking about being a stunt pilot. No idea if it’ll stick, but I can see Ered doing barrel roles and then just casually saying “sweet” instead of reacting for real.

Harrison apparently got accepted into some magic school. He was really excited at first, but then he said he wasn’t allowed to talk about it because of the “statute of secrecy”. But someone from the school was able to bring his brother back, and he says his parents don’t scream anymore when he comes near them, so there’s that.

Space Kid is still Space Kid, but somehow  _more_? I’m still working on that one. And his parents are cool. They don’t live far from us and they let me come over and play video games sometimes.

We kinda lost track of Preston for awhile there, but then around Christmas he turned up again and told us that his grandma was in the hospital. He’d come to us for emotional support because he had no one else to turn to, and he got it. Everyone was really helpful and got him through everything.

To be honest, I kinda understand why he didn’t want anything to do with us after the summer was over. His parents aren’t much better than mine were, and his grandma was really all he had. And then at camp he never really connected with anyone- at least I had Nikki and Neil, and Space Kid in a pinch, but Preston was the world’s punching bag all summer. I don’t blame him for ditching us.

We haven’t really seen much of Dolph lately. He was in and out for awhile there, but then a couple months ago he vanished on us. Even Ered hasn’t heard from him, and she’s the best at keeping tabs on people.

But those changes pale in comparison to the biggest one, mine.

See, after the Parents’ Day fiasco, all the parents took their kids home early. Well,  _my_  parents weren’t there, right? So David calls them up to tell them what’s going on, so they can come pick me up if they want to.

David’s never talked to me about that phone call. He always brushes over it and changes the subject if I try to bring it up. He doesn’t want me to know what happened, but he doesn’t know that I was listening on the other end the whole time. What, was I not supposed to? It was  _me_  they were talking about.

So, the basic gist is, after David explained what had happened, my parents wanted to know if the camp was being shut down. David said no, the camp was still running, but what with one thing and another, he felt they might be happiest taking me home early. But they said, no, as long as the camp was active, I was staying there. They’d paid for the full three months and I wasn’t coming home a minute sooner.

Gotta tell you, that hurt. But it didn’t surprise me.

What surprised me was  _David_. I’ve seen David mad before, but never like  _this_. He really let into them- said I was a swell kid and they should consider themselves so lucky to have me, and a lot of other things too, including some stuff I’ve always wanted to say to them. So after a really long argument and a lot of yelling, my dad said that if David thought I was so great then I could be  _his_  problem now.

( _The page is ripped away, here, and continues on the next side._ )

So anyway, now I live with David, which is not as awful and lame as I was expecting. I mean, he’s still  _David_ , but at least he listens to me more now.

And he’s dating Gwen. I know, right? He was so nervous about asking her out that first time, he said he thought what if he wasn’t good enough? Duh, like Gwen’s any better than he is! They’re perfect for each other, honestly, but I wish they’d stop kissing on the doorstep when they get home from their dates. It’s gross. Anyone could just pull the curtain aside and lean out the window and move the shrub aside and see them.

It’s almost time for Camp Campbell to pick up again. David was left in charge of the camp with Campbell in prison, and he’s been working hard all year to make it work. He says that the main problem wasn’t the idea, it was just the branding choices Campbell made, and the lack of a clear budget for each individual camp. So he’s readvertising it as a ‘camp camp’, where kids can indulge in their own hobbies while also experiencing lots of new things that they might not have otherwise.

And you know, people are falling for it? We’re up to nearly twenty campers for this summer! Granted almost half of them are returning from last year- the rest of the kids all begged their parents to let them come back, and since David is in charge instead of Campbell, they finally agreed. And of course I’m stuck going back, since David can’t leave me alone for three months. I know, I tried to talk him into it. He said I’m too young to stay by myself for so long without anyone to look after me.

We’re getting some new counselors too. David already hired one, a guy he went to camp with back in the day, and he’s doing interviews all week to hire the other. No idea how they’ll work out.

( _There’s a page break here, with several doodles, before picking up lower down the page._ )

So David just came in and dropped the biggest bomb on me. He said that Campbell was able to get his sentence reduced, which means he’ll be getting out of prison soon! And they’re putting him on house arrest at the camp! In David’s custody! What the fuck are they thinking! This guy has done terrible things- Camp Campbell is probably his  _least_  shady enterprise, and Campbell Corp is  _the worst_. Why are they letting him  _out_? And what’s going to happen to all of David’s work on the camp now that Campbell is back running things? David has worked so hard, he doesn’t deserve the

( _Once more, the page has been ripped out._ )

David says I have to be nice to Campbell because everyone deserves a second chance. But I’m not letting Campbell fuck this up for us. Everything’s going really well. If Campbell thinks he can ruin it? Then I’ll be right there to stop him.


	2. The Only Payoff of Faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And just so we're clear, David is the one with separation anxiety, okay? Not Max. Just so we're clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was writing this on Tumblr I didn't realize how long the chapter was getting. I'm pleased that it's a nice big chunk that isn't way too long.

“I can’t believe Campbell is already getting out of Super Guantanamo,” Gwen said, while she dug through the video cabinet.

David poked his head around the kitchen door, a bag of paper plates hanging from one hand. “I know, isn’t it great? His lawyer really is something special! Ooh, we should send him a fruit basket!” He disappeared back into the kitchen, and returned a moment later with paper plates, styrofoam cups, and plastic forks. “You know, to thank him for doing such a great job of helping Mr. Campbell.”

Max snorted while he helped lay out the spread of Chinese takeout Gwen had brought with her, primed for everyone to be able to reach their favorites without any need for elbows to get shoved into crotches or faces to get shoved into knees. (Apparently “hey pass me that” was too high an ask for them.)

“More like he’s  _ blackmailing _ a good lawyer,” he said. David gave him a stern look, albeit not very.

“Now, Max. That’s not a very nice thing to say about Mr. Morcombe  _ or _ Mr. Campbell.”

“Why not? He  _ told _ us he was blackmailing the guy, remember? And then he started to tell us about the dirt he had on him and you covered my ears and said ‘Mr. Campbell!’ in that really scandalized voice of yours, and I didn’t get to hear any of the juicy details.”

“It just wasn’t a very appropriate conversation to have in front of a ten-year-old.”

“I’m eleven!”

“You were ten at the time.” 

David smiled fondly and ruffled Max’s hair as he went by to settle onto the couch, while Gwen put in the dvd she’d chosen and went to sit as well. Max added the last bowl of takeout rice and hopped up onto the couch as well, wiggling his way in between Gwen and David so that they couldn’t touch without impeding his ability to watch the movie.

Bad movies and takeout was a Saturday night tradition for them. Max cuddleblocking Gwen and David during bad movies and takeout was also a Saturday night tradition.

On the long list of reasons Max wasn’t looking forward to going back to Camp Campbell this year, not being able to have their weekly movie night traditions was pretty high up, just above ‘when it rains the lake smells faintly toxic’ but not quite as high as ‘a crazy cultist literally tried to murder us last year’. Max had worked hard on his list, because he’d been presenting it to David ever since David had started talking about opening the camp back up.

“I’m a little worried about Mr. Campbell, actually,” David said, while the opening credits rolled on the movie. “Last time I went to see him he was really quiet and he didn’t seem like he wanted me there.”

“Maybe he got shanked,” Max said cheerily, leaning over Gwen to reach the duck sauce.

“Max!”

“What? It’s what happens in prison! Don’t you watch prison movies?”

“No, and neither should you! They’re far to violent for a boy your age.”

“I like the violence. Makes me feel alive.”

“Well, that’s worrying. Anyway, I’m sure Mr. Campbell hasn’t been shanked.” He frowned. “…I hope. Do you think we should go check on him?”

Max leaned back into the couch and groaned. “David, it is a  _ three hour drive _ to Super Guantanamo.  _ No _ , I  _ don’t _ think we should make a six hour round trip just so you can make sure he hasn’t been shanked. If he has, the warden will call you and let you know. Now can we please watch This Island Earth in peace? I think that guy’s plane is about to crash.”

-/-  


School ended. David and Gwen went out to Lake Lilac to get the campgrounds ready, and Max was sent to stay with Space Kid’s family for a few days. David dropped him off on his way out of town, and Max tossed his duffle over his shoulder and watched David drive away and told himself, over and over, that it was only a few days and then David would come pick him up again.

It wasn’t  _ permanent _ . It wasn’t even long-term. And he was only leaving Max because there was a lot of work to be done and he figured Max would rather relax than help. And he was right. Max didn’t want to spend every day of his summer at Camp Campbell. And Space Kid had the best entertainment room Max had ever been in.

And it was only for a few days.

“Wanna go play Mud Mummy Invasion?” Space Kid asked. 

Max snapped back into reality and turned to look at him. He wondered how long he’d been staring out the window instead of listening to whatever Space Kid was nattering on about. He shook his head.

“Nah, we already beat all the levels.”

“We haven’t found all the Easter eggs, though. Ered said she found a really cool one in the Jurassic level but she wouldn’t tell me what it was.”

“She never does.”

“She says finding them is the fun part.”

Max shrugged, and went back to staring out the window. It was a cloudy day, and kind of muggy, which meant the heat would be oppressive up at the lake. And it was probably going to rain later, too. He hoped David and Gwen got to the lake before the bottom fell out, driving up a mountain in the rain couldn’t be fun.

“You okay, Max?”

Max shrugged again. Space Kid tilted his head and looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

“David’ll be back in a few days,” he said. “And he said he’d call as soon as they reached the lake, too.”

It was uncanny how easily Space Kid could guess what he was thinking. Max turned back to him, but Space Kid was already picking up their dishes and covering the plate of cookies they’d been eating from. In a sudden burst of helpfulness, Max jumped to his feet and carried the milk carton to the fridge, while Space Kid rinsed off the few dishes they’d dirtied.

“Anyway, I’m not worried,” Max said, while they headed up to the entertainment room.

“Are you sure? Because you have some pretty clear abandonment issues and-”

“I do  _ not _ have abandonment issues.”

“Whatever you say, Max.”

“Anyway, I’m just annoyed  _ because _ it’ll only be a few days. Then David’ll come pick me up and take me back to Camp Campbell. Can you imagine?”

“I don’t have to, I’ll be up too a week later.”

“Yeah, but  _ you _ volunteered. I don’t have a choice in the matter.”

“But you’re not being left there, though. Your dad’ll be there  _ with _ you.”

“David is  _ not _ my dad.”

“Whatever you say, Max.”

-/-

“Do you think Max will be okay?”

Gwen sighed, and put her book down. Again. “David, calm down. It’s only a few days. He’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but what if he’s worried I’m not coming back?”

“Then when you do come back, as promised, he’ll feel a little bit better about being away from you and worry a little less that you’ll leave him. And your separation anxiety will get a little bit better.”

“I don’t have separation anxiety. And anyway you can’t  _ know _ that’ll be the result. What if I just strengthen his abandonment issues? He’s been hurt so much.”

Gwen shot him a glare, and turned back to her book. “It’s not like I’ve got a degree in psychology and have spent the past year getting the know the little shit,” she muttered.

David shook his head and reached for his cell phone. “I’ll just call the Armstrongs and check on him. I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear from me.”

“Touch that phone and I’m breaking up with you,” Gwen said, without looking up from her book. David snatched his hand away as if she’d slapped it. She sighed. “Okay, so I won’t break up with you over it. But still- it’ll be  _ fine _ . It’s three days. He’s with a friend, the Armstrongs love him, and he and Buzz get along great, which I take as a personal insult, by the way. We said we’d call once we got to the camp, and we will, and that will make things a little easier for both of you. And in the meantime,  _ we _ can spend a little alone time together, too.”

She reached over to the middle, and David laid his own hand over hers with a smile.

“We do need some of that,” he agreed. “I love Max, but he does like to cuddleblock us every chance he gets.”

“He’s not here, you know, you’re allowed to say the real word.”

“What real word?”

-/-  


The door popped open with a cheery, “Hey there, rockets!” Space Kid launched himself at the newcomer with a shout of “Uncle Buzz!”, while Max approached at a normal pace and offered a high five that was not as enthusiastic as his usual one. Buzz knelt to talk to him.

“What’s wrong, champ?”

“Max is upset because David hasn’t called yet.”

“I am not!” Max reached over and pushed Space Kid irritably away, then spun and stormed back over to the couch, hurling himself onto it, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table and sulking down into the cushions.

Buzz and Space Kid came over to join him. Space Kid wrapped him up in a hug while Buzz grabbed the remote and flipped it to the weather channel.

“There you go, Max,” he said. “There’s a pretty big storm hitting over that way. It’s probably messing with the reception. He’d have called if he could.”

“Duh.” Max wiggled away from Space Kid and sulked deeper into the couch. “Obviously it’s just the storm stopping him from calling, and he didn’t just forget because it’s not that important or because Gwen is there and they can finally be alone now that I’m not underfoot all the time.” He huffed. “Nope, it’s definitely the storm, just like you said.”

-/-

David and Gwen pulled into the campgrounds just as the bottom fell out of the sky. They parked as close as they could to the mess hall, but even so, they were soaked by the time they unlocked the door and skidded inside, dripping water while a gust of wind nearly ripped the door out of their hands. They stood inside for just a moment, shivering and dripping, before shaking themselves out of it.

“We need to dry off,” Gwen said. “I’ll go get some towels out of the back. Here.” She reached into her shirt and took out her phone, miraculously dry and uncomfortably warm as well. “Call the Armstrongs so Max knows we got here safe.”

While she headed off to scrounge up some towels, David dialed the Armstrong’s number and hummed to himself while he waited for it to dial.

By the time Gwen returned with the towels, he’d failed several more tries to get a call to go through. She didn’t have to ask what that look meant. She could guess, and anyway she knew how her phone was. “No service?”

“No.”

“It’s the storm, that thing always goes fidgety in bad weather.”

“Yeah, probably.”

He startled when she dropped a towel over his head, shoving him playfully. “Come on, let’s try the landline. And dry off, you’re gonna catch a cold.”

The landline was dead. David frowned at the dialtone, and hung up.

“Now what? Max is going to start worrying soon, we told him we’d be up around six.”

“Where’s your phone? You get better reception up here than I do.”

“Um…” David patted himself down, and then paled when his hand landed on his shirt pocket. He pulled the phone out and cringed- it was soaked, and when he tried to turn it on, his fears were concerned. “…I think it got rained on.”

-/-

“Wanna watch a movie?”

“I’ve seen it.”

“I didn’t even say which one.”

“I’ve seen all of them.”

“We could play Mud Mummies again.”

“That game is stupid.”

“What about chess?”

“Unnnnnggggggghhhhhhh.”

Max and Space Kid were leaning over the back of the couch watching the rain, while Space Kid tried to come up with ways to distract Max from his misery. So far, it wasn’t working.

It wasn’t that Max thought David wasn’t calling on purpose. It was a pretty bad storm, honestly, they probably hadn’t even made it yet. It was fine. Max was  _ fine _ . And anyway, with how shitty the reception was,  _ obviously _ their phones were down. That was all.

No problem.

“Boys, it’s time for dinner.” Mrs. Armstrong opened the door. “Five minutes, come wash up.” She glanced over at Max. “David still hasn’t called?”

“I’m  _ fine _ !” he snapped, and turned away with a huff. He squeaked, then, because Mrs. Armstrong had folded him up in a warm hug.

“David’ll call as soon as he’s able to. He’s not ignoring you or leaving you hanging on purpose.”

Max really wished people would stop telling him that. He wiggled out of the hug and stormed out of the room, over to the bathroom to wash up. Maybe they’d get the point if he stopped responding to their platitudes.

-/-

David had managed to dig out an old bag of rice from the kitchen and buried his phone in it; meanwhile, Gwen was fiddling with the camp’s main computer to see if they could get an internet signal. Maybe they could send an email to Max instead.

“I hope he isn’t worrying,” David said, poking his phone deeper into the bag of rice. “Or fretting. Or having a panic attack!” He took a few gasping breaths, then shook himself hard, getting himself back under control. “Where’re the keys?”

“By the door, why? Wait, no, uh-uh.” Gwen stood and moved over to him, taking both his hands in hers. “It was hard enough driving in this storm  _ before _ the rain hit. You’re not doing anything that involves leaving the mess hall. We’re going to wait out the storm, and  _ then _ we’ll call Max, and he’ll-”

She broke off. She’d been about to say ‘he’ll understand’, but this was Max they were talking about. He’d understand, but that wouldn’t matter much. She sighed, and reached into her shirt again.

“Here. Take my phone and keep trying. I’ll keep trying with the internet. Maybe we’ll get a window at some point and get a message off, if nothing else.”

-/-  


Max woke to the sound of the phone ringing downstairs. He squinted around; it was dark in the room, only a little bit of muffled moonlight filtering in through the window.

He heard the Armstrongs stirring in their room, mumbling in sleepy confusion. The phone kept ringing.

The phone was ringing.

Max snapped awake, and slid off of the couch and hurried downstairs, as fast as his feet could take him, taking the stairs two at a time and skidding into the living room just as the ringer clicked off. He swore and grabbed it, but the number was unlisted. But it was probably David.

It only took a second for Max to figure out how to redial, and he held the phone up to his ear, trying to get his heart to stop pounding. One ring. Two rings. On the third ring the click of someone picking up.

“David! I couldn’t get to the phone in time, is the storm-”

“Hello, we are calling in regard to your current credit card debt. We-”

Click. Max set the phone back on the dock and turned to trudge upstairs. Mr. Armstrong was there when he did, halfway down.

“Was it-?”

Max shoved past him without answering and slipped back into Space Kid’s room, leaving him there in the dark, his question dead on his lips.

-/-

When Max woke up again, the sun was high overhead, pouring in through the window. The storm last night had cleared the air, leaving the sky blue-blue-blue, and the heat even more unbearable than ever. Max grabbed his hoodie and headed downstairs, leaving Space Kid asleep and wondering if David had called during the night.

“Sorry, champ,” Mr. Armstrong said, when he came down. “Pancakes?”

“I’m not hungry.” He trudged through into the living room, and dropped himself onto the couch, fumbling around for the remote. He was looking for some cartoons to watch when there was a knock at the door; he ignored it while Mr. Armstrong answered it.

“Oh, David! What a surprise.”

“David?” Max scrambled off of the couch and into the foyer. David was there, and Gwen too. He quickly schooled himself back into his usual apathy. “What are you guys doing back? Figured you’d be smooching up at the campgrounds by now.”

“The storm knocked out the landline at the campgrounds,” David explained. “The power too. Gwen’s phone died during the night and mine got wet and the rice, er, didn’t help. We couldn’t call like we promised. So we decided to come back and get you, so you wouldn’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Max said, shoving his hands into his hoodie. “I hadn’t even noticed you didn’t call. Me and Space Kid just watched a bunch of movies and fell asleep.”

“Yeah, well.” Gwen winked at him. “You know how David is. Separation anxiety, and all that.”

“Oh, of course.” Max grinned, and launched himself at the escape she’d offered him. “I should have known that was it. Couldn’t stand to have me out of your hair just for a day?”

“Max, you’re never  _ in _ my hair. I love having you around.”

“I know.” Max shrugged, refusing to meet David’s eyes. “But I bet you’re really disappointed you didn’t get some alone time with Gwen.”

The two adults exchanged a guilty look. “I-  _ was _ looking forward to that, yes,” David admitted. “But! You know you’re more important.”

“Yeah, well, too bad. Cause you promised me three days of not having to go back to that stupid campground, and I mean to take it.”

“Max-”

“Why don’t you two come in for pancakes?” Mr. Armstrong said. “We can sort out what we’re going to do over breakfast.”

“Oh! That’s very nice of you, sir. We’d like that.”

They followed him into the kitchen, Max reaching up to give David’s hand a quick squeeze that he would forever deny if asked. Suddenly he was starving.

“You floated your phone?”

“Yeah, but it’ll be fine. I was due for an upgrade anyway, and all of my pictures of you are on the cloud.”

Max groaned. “Even the ones from Halloween?”

“ _ Especially _ the ones from Halloween.”

“Uuuunnnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhh.”

o/o  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I'll think of a really embarrassing explanation for that Halloween picture.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr and Twitter @grifalinas for more fanfic talk and for unnecessarily deep meta about Cameron Campbell.


End file.
